


The Z Virus

by SharkPup



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Grenades, Guns, Lots of OCs - Freeform, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Non cannon - Freeform, Original Character Death(s), Red Army, Sort Of, Tea Party, Zombies, can you believe i turned this into my college professor, fundead, most of these ocs aren't RA ocs anymore, not cannon, only oc ships, red army being idiots, that one kid from the zombie episode, this was a school assignment, zombie dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkPup/pseuds/SharkPup
Summary: The Z virus, otherwise known as the zombie virus, has been released onto the public. Rumor has it that someone inside the red army compound is responsible for the outbreak. Can Jess figure out who it is or will she get blown to bits during a tea party first?





	The Z Virus

**Author's Note:**

> asdfghjkl can ya'll believe i actually turned this in for my first official english project hA. Anyways, this hasn't been proof read bc I was in a rush so if you see anything that needs fixed just let me know.

“So you got the stuff?”

“Depends, you got your half?”

     A small green box was pulled from the coat of a young woman, presented to the taller man leaning against the wall beside her. The man peered down at it through his shades and nodded curtly, presenting his own similar pink box. They exchanged boxes and a firm handshake before parting ways, both with a wide grin. 

“Thanks Wes!” The woman called over her shoulder as she walked away. “I was running low on dye.”

“No problem Jess, I’ll supply your pink if you keep supplying my green!” He waved the green box of dye as he spoke. Hair dye was hard to come by out here, especially seeing as the soldiers weren’t supposed to have colorful hair. But as long as it was bought and applied outside of work hours, no one complained. 

“I don’t understand why you have to make such a big deal about hair dye. You look fine without it.” 

     A dark haired man approached her, cigarette hanging loosely between his lips. He blew a small weft of smoke in the opposite direction of her before stomping it out on the grass. Jess gave him a small pout and hit his shoulder in that weird way friends do. 

“You know I feel self-conscious about my looks Carrot, bright hair makes me feel better.” As if to punctuate the statement she blew a strand of pink hair from her face. The man, deemed ‘Carrot’ by his friends, rolled his eyes and brushed the stray hair behind her ear. 

“You look fine doll, take it from me.” It was her turn to roll her eyes.

“Says the guy who’s got fifty patches in his uniform and dark circles for days under his eyes.” She poked one of the many patches in Carrot’s uniform but he was unfazed by the action. Instead he simply wrapped an arm around her waist as they walked and talked.

“It’s only like, five patches.”

“Ten.”

“Eight.”

“At least nine, I’ve had to fix most of them myself.” He gave her a look but she did have a point, so he kept his mouth shut.”

“Why can’t Tord buy you a new one anyways?” 

     She scratched at the scar on her face out of habit and Carrot tried to swat her hand away without seeming rude. He knew most of her habits seeing as he was probably her closest friend in the army so far. Others didn’t quite understand how the two could be quite so close, seeing as they worked different hours of the day. Jess had to work the day shift, taking care of and training the scout dogs. Carrot worked the night shift, being one of the best hackers in the force, or something. Whatever he did, he was good at it, but he tended to overwork himself. Jess had found him passed out at his desk more times than she could count.

“Boss has gotta feed his addictions, and they ain’t cheap.”

“How is anime an addiction and or not cheap? Even if he couldn’t find them online I’m sure you could dig them up through the webs.”

“I could, true. But boss likes to have the hard copies, and he’s the boss so.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I wouldn’t do it if he asked anyways, half of its porn ya know.” 

     Jess couldn’t contain a snort at the, what she assumed to be, joke. Carrot smirked in triumph at lightening the mood and patted her on the back as he removed his arm from her waist. 

“You outta head out. Tord called a meeting for most of ya, don’t wanna be late. Something about an outbreak. Or something.” He shrugged. He hadn’t payed much attention when Tord was rounding up the troops, but then again he didn’t pay much attention to Tord in general. Jess gave him a quick hug and thanks for reminding her before heading toward the warehouse where meetings were held. 

“Try to get some sleep before your shift starts!”

“Can’t sleep, it’s too bright out.”

“It’s not even sunny you goof!” She gave a small laugh before realizing it really wasn't sunny. Usually the sky over the base was bright and clear with the sun blaring down over the entire area, but today it was cloudy and kind of dreary. It gave off an ominous mood. With a quick shake of her head to clear her thoughts, Jess made her way to the warehouse.

     When she slipped through the doors most of the other soldiers were gathered in the center of the building, talking and socializing. Some stragglers were gathered off to the sides, handling a range of weapons as if they were children's toys. One particular group was spinning a gun as if it were spin the bottle; another was playing some weird form of Russian roulette with a box of what was believed to be defective grenades. She heard a gunshot as she approached the main group and the sound of someone screaming in the background was accompanied by a small explosion. She paid it no mind, this was a regular occurrence and she’d often taken part in those games herself. It was easy to slip through the crowd until she found an orange mess of hair standing out and she joined the person attached to it. 

“Hey Forrest. You manage to get out of bed without me there to wake you up?” The red head turned to her with his usual thousand mile stare, beady red eyes that would intimidate anyone that didn’t know him. Fortunately, Jess did know him. They were bunkmates after all. He’d freaked her out a bit when she first met him, but she wasn’t one to judge. 

“You didn’t even wake up until one o clock; usually I have to wake _you_ up.” 

     Jess was about to make a playful retort but a loud gruff voice interrupted her as it spoke over the speakers. Everyone in the room went silent as a short brunette walked onto a platform, his coat flowing behind him and his boots against the floor being the only sound in the room. He didn’t bother to look at the crowd as he spoke, instead busying himself with a pile of papers in his hands. He acted indifferent toward everyone, and spoke with a thick Norwegian accent. The only others on the platform were Paul and Pat, otherwise known as the boss’s right hand men. They followed him everywhere; rumor said they’d been the first soldiers recruited. No one ever saw them actually do any work though. Perks of being friends with the boss, huh.

“Hello comrades. I’ve gathered you all here to talk about your next mission. It seems someone has beat us to creating the Z virus, and has released it onto the public. However, it is unknown who released it, and since we are the only known researchers on the virus, it is suspected that we are the source of it. Basically, you’re all on cleaning duty. Marsh shall pass out weapons and group numbers. Be ready to leave in one hour for London by plane.” 

     Without looking up once, Tord turned and left the platform, walking out of the building with his two right hand soldiers following close behind. Once he was out of sight, the horse play resumed, although at a much smaller amount. Most were excited to leave; it’d been months since they’d had a real call to action. Those who were managed to file into somewhat of a line leading out the door, each person receiving a gun and orders from Marsh as they left. When Jess and Forrest reached the front of the line, she received a machine gun and Forrest got a flamethrower. He’d always had a thing for fire. Luckily they got placed in the same group, which helped Jess relax significantly. Her anxiety made it difficult to work with others she didn’t know well. 

     When she received her weapon, Marsh practically threw it into her arms. He obviously wasn’t in a good mood, and it only served to make her more anxious. The man was, to say the least, intimidating. Attractive, but scary in a way. Many wanted to pair up with him, seeing as he had tan skin, dark curls, and even a small mole under his left eye. Jess had thought the same at one point too, but over time the man became more intimidating. He would often go on about how he’d overthrow Tord and take over the army, no one believed him of course, but lately he’d seemed extra prominent about it. He harshly told her she was staring and to move on. In her hurry to get away from the man, she missed the suspicious glare he gave her. Forrest however, did not, but he let it be for now so he could follow he friend. 

. . . . .

     Fighting the zombies was nerve wracking, but Jess would admit it was also super fun. A lot of soldiers would agree, it seemed every three out of five had some mild sociopathic tendencies and found great joy in the carnage and gore. Bullets were flying everywhere with no sense of order, the sound of war filling the air. The zombies didn’t actually seem too harmful, most were slow or uninterested in the battle. She could’ve sworn she saw one busying itself eating cotton candy on the sidelines. It must have got it from one of the concession stands. 

     The virus tended to spread quickly in high populated areas, one of which being the carnival. Most of its residents had already been zombified, the few survivors having been lead to safety earlier. Luckily, there didn’t seem to have been many kids out today so most of the zombies were adults, few teens. Out of the corner of her eye Jess saw Forrest running over to her, holding some sort of white lump? He was out of breath as he reached her and handed the ‘lump’ over.

“Found ‘im in the arcade section, doesn’t seem to have any wounds ‘cept for a few scratches. Get him out safe for me?” Before she had a chance to answer, which was just a quick nod anyways, he was running back into battle.

     Jess quickly turned in the opposite direction and started running as well, heading toward the exit. She looked down at the kid, wrapped in a blanket and staring up at her with cold indifferent eyes, couldn’t be more than nine years old and seemed to be wearing a white shirt and cap. She held him in one arms, using her gun in the other to shoot down zombies in their way. Once reaching the exit she carefully helped the child stand and made sure he was ok. She was about to ask where his parents were when she heard growling behind them.

     Her blood ran cold at the sound, and she knew what it was going to be before she even turned around. Her head turned slowly to look over her shoulder, and she was right. There stood a large dog, its fur black with a few small spots of brown, and foaming at the mouth. She noticed bones sticking out of random places and chucks of flesh hanging here and there. The foam dripping from its mouth was pink from blood being mixed in, she could guess how it got there.

     What sickened her the most was how _familiar_ the dog looked, exactly like her old dog Max. The one she’d spent her life with, the one she’d grown up with, the only friend she'd had for a third of her life. She was stock still, frozen in shock rather than fear. She knew she had to protect the kid, the dog was gone now, it was undead. It couldn’t be saved, but she couldn’t convince herself that shooting it wouldn’t be any different from shooting her Max. She’d been so caught up in her thoughts that when the dog barked loudly, she dropped the gun. Their only source of safety clattered to the ground in front of them. 

     Her body shook and her eyes teared up, she held them back for the most part, but she kept seeing her dog. Her _friend_. Of course she could always try and run, get the kid to someone else at least, there were trucks not too far away they could hide in. However her anxiety flared up at all the thoughts of her long dead dog and resurfacing memories made it impossible for her to move. The dog barked once again, lunging toward the two. Jess closed her eyes tight and waited for what would surely be a fatal bite.

** BANG! **

     The bite never came. Slowly she opened her eyes, now dripping with tears, and looked ahead of her. There laid the dog, dead once again in a pile of its own blood, a large hold going right between the eyes. Between her and the dog stood the child, holding her gun, which was smoking slightly from the previously fired shot. She stared at the kid in shock as he turned and looked up at her, eyes cold as ever. Her eyes flicked down to his clothes, pure white stained a deep red, and glanced back up to his face.

“You have to do what’s best for those you care about, even if it means putting them out of their misery.” He simply said.

     Once they’d regrouped in the trucks later, Forrest told her he’d found the child standing beside two re-dead zombies. Upon investigating they found a picture in one of their wallets of a mother, father, and child wearing a white baseball cap.

. . . . .

     When they got back to the base Jess immediately went to shower and change out of her stuffy uniform. The sky was dark and gloomy and looked as though it would rain soon. She didn’t bother to bundle up though, instead going out in just her tank top and sweats, as she headed toward the electronics section of the base. It was an underground bunker about two and a half kilometers from the respite area. She defended into what was similar to a subway entrance and made her way in, ignoring the young attendant and his nervous attempts at asking her for the password. 

     The building was familiar to her and she knew where she was headed, easily winding through the halls until she came to a fairly large room located in the back. She didn’t bother to knock and instead walked right on in. The sounds of beeping computers and tabletop fans was comforting as she made her way over to the only occupant in the room, draping her upper body around him. She wrapped her arms around the man sitting in a rolling chair in front of a wall of screens, and he reached up to pat her arm. 

“Rough day?”

“You could say that.” She sighed and looked up at the screens but didn’t understand half the things on them. Most if it seemed to be in code or in Russian. “Mind taking a break to keep me company for awhile?”

“I could use a smoke break.” He shrugged her arms from his shoulder and stood up, stretching his arms over his head before leading her out back to the steps at the entrance to the bunker. They sat on the first row of steps and He pulled out a cigarette.

“Got a light?” Jess rolled her eyes and pulled a small lighter from her pocket.

“Maybe I should just give you this lighter Carrot, you use it more than I ever would.” She wasn’t exactly a smoker herself, but she kept the lighter on her person most of the time. Carrot quickly lit his cigarette and handed it back. 

“Instead of talking about my smoking habits, let’s talk about you hon. You look like someone kicked a puppy.” Carrot noticed her flinch and suddenly felt extremely guilty.

“Wait did someone actually kick a puppy?” 

“No Carrot.” She gave a long sigh and ran a hand through her hair. It was easy to explain what did happen though, she was always able to talk to him. Her head leaned on his shoulder as she told him the story, explaining everything from how the dog had scruffy fur down to how much more lifeless the boy looked than the dog. Carrot listened intently, waiting until she was done speaking to comment on anything. He took care to blow his smoke away from her. 

“I just can’t believe I froze up like that! That kid could have died! And can you imagine the emotional trauma he must have after killing his zombified parents? How many others have had to go through loos like that since this outbreak.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, her next sentence barely above a whisper. “If we only knew who released it, then maybe we’d know how to stop it.”

     Carrot was quiet for a moment, he took a long drag from his cig, and blew it out slowly. He watched it fade into the night’s breeze before speaking.

“You know, it’s just a rumor, But I’ve been hearing that the virus was released from someone inside the base.”

“. . .You’re joking.”

“Nope. A lot of people are talking about it. I don’t know how much I believe it though; it’d have to be someone around the Boss a lot. The Z virus was one of his personal research products. Even I don’t have access to that.”

     Neither of them said anything else for a long while, both of their heads filled with thoughts. Jess was already tacking up suspects, Carrot was guessing how far he’d let her go into the investigation he knew she’d do until he had to stop her for her own safety. They sat in silence until stars littered the night sky and Carrot sent her back to her room to get some much needed sleep.

. . . . .

     Normally Jess would consider herself a lazy person, tending to spend most time sleeping in or goofing off with friends. She wouldn't even get any work done if her job wasn’t basically playing with dogs. If anyone asked, she was busy training them. So when she decided she was going to catch the person responsible, she had to put a lot of effort into it. Which wasn’t easy for her, but she managed. 

     Her first idea had been to gather some soldiers she was closer to and discuss anything they knew. Maybe they’d have some leads for her? Plus she needed to relax a bit after yesterday’s fiasco. So after setting up a small table, complete with tablecloth and tea set, she invited the few to come join her. She’d set the table up in the middle of the mine field, both because she knew her friends would be drawn to it, and because they’d be more likely to be left alone. They were all crazy here, but most soldiers wouldn’t risk exploding just to see what’s up. 

“Hello Jess.” 

     A small high pitched voice greeted her, accompanied by a yawn. Jess turned to see her good friend Hollie strolling up to the table and taking a seat across from her. Her bright brown hair was a bit messy, probably having just woken up. Jess had called the personal meeting for eight in the morning, suspecting most soldiers also wouldn’t be awake for a few hours to help prevent onlookers. Jess smiled and gave her own greeting in return as she poured her friend a cup of hot tea. The early morning was still chilly despite being bright with the late sunrise. It wasn’t long before Forrest showed up and took the seat beside her, and Kellie took the seat across from him. Jess poured them both a cup of tea, giving Forrest extra sugar for his. 

“So you guys are probably wondering why I gathered you all here so early in the morning?” She started off.

“What I’m wondering is how you even managed to get out of bed before me.” Forrest snickered.

“Oh ha-ha very funny. But honestly, this is serious. I. . .look, you guys know the zombies we’ve been fighting for the last few days? I’m trying to figure out who started it.” Jess wished she could’ve brought Carrot along, he was so much better at this, but this was the only time of the day he actually got any sleep so she didn’t want to bug him. She watched the girls across from her sip their tea, Kellie being the first to reply.

“Honestly, I don’t know anything other than the rumors. But if you find out who it is, I’ll be more than happy to help kick their ass.” Hollie spoke up next.

“Um, why are you so concerned about this Jess? Usually you’d be more like to keep the zombies around so you could have something to blow up.”

“Long story Hol, I’ll tell you later. In the meantime I need to know anything and everything you guys do.” She was hoping at least one of them would have something; otherwise she’d have gotten up so early for nothing. Roll call wasn’t even until ten.

“The rumors say it’s a guy. Most of the girls here are too busy with gossip to actually do anything like this anyways.” Kellie commented. Jess made a mental note to focus more on the male soldiers.

“The one guy, what’s his name? Mash? Marsh? He keeps whining about taking over, dude hates Tord’s guts. He could be a suspect?” Forrest finally spoke up. The three didn’t have to think long before Hollie commented.

“Yeah but he’s been saying that stuff since day one. I think he’s all bark, no bite.” 

“He’s not close enough to Tord to get his intel anyways. Dude can’t stand being in the same building as him, let alone his small personal research lab.” Forrest nodded in agreement with the two ladies statements. Jess was quiet for a moment, then scribbled down a few notes in a small notepad.

“Well, he won’t be at the top of the list but I’m not ruling him out as a suspect.” She told them.

     It was quiet for a long moment, silent kept for their breathing and the distant sound of gunfire from the soldiers who liked to get up early for target practice. Although the targets were usually other soldiers. In a quick flash, Forrest had pulled out a small pistol from his coat and shot off to the right of the table. He hadn’t looked away from where he’d been sipping his tea as he did it, and still didn’t as he spoke. 

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a rat.” 

     The three ladies looked to where he had fired and saw a small man, laying on the ground and holding his leg where he’d been shot in the foot. He must have been listening in, seeming to have been hidden behind a small outhouse. Why there was one out in the mine field, no one really knew, but they certainly hadn’t expected anyone to be in it. Or near it for that matter, despite never being used the thing smelled atrocious. Forrest suspected Tord used it to dump extra radioactive sludge. Jess was the first to stand up, Hollie and Kellie following close behind. Forrest finished his tea before joining them next to the wounded man.

“Who are you and what did you hear?” Jess crouched down to be eye level with the man as she spoke. He seemed to have dark hair, bright eyes full of what she assumed to be fear, and he was wearing the signature Red Army uniform. He coughed and looked away.

“I don’t know anything.” He said.

“That’s not what I asked.” Jess replied. 

     Forrest crouched down next to Jess, staring at the man with his beady red eyes. The man seemed to break into a cold sweat, looking anywhere but at the two. His eyes glanced down to the gun still in Forrest’s hand and he swallowed loudly. Forrest noticed and decided to put the gun away in his coat again. The man certainly would’ve run off by now if he didn’t have a hole in his foot.

“Wait a minute. You’re Nik right? Nikolai Romanov?” You could easily see the wave of dread pass over his face before he tried to hide it. Forrest must be right about the name then.

“You’re the one always hanging around that Will guy right?”

“I do _not_ hang around him, he clings to _me_. I hate the guy! And now because of him I have a _hole_ in my _FOOT!_ ” The man. Nik, exclaimed angrily.

“So Will sent you out here?” Hollie asked. Nik scoffed.

“The man never does his own dirty work.”

“If you hate him so much, why do this for him?” Kellie asked. Nik seemed to break into a cold sweat again.

“ _Reasons_. Personal reasons, blackmail and shit.” He seemed extremely hesitant to talk about it. Jess wouldn’t pry into his personal problems.

“Tell us what you know and we can help. Or you know, toss you into the middle of the mine field.” She said with a shrug of her shoulders. Nik seemed to think it over for a second, but his choice was obvious.

“Ugh, fine.”

. . . . .

     According to Nik, William Gray aka Will, had sent him just to listen in and report back what the group knew. Nik knew nothing about why, just that Will seemed insistent on keeping info about the virus on the down low. He was instantly bumped to the top of the suspect list, seeing as the man was powerful. He was closer to Tord than most, heaven knows why, but he might have been able to snatch a sample from Tord’s lab.At least enough to get the virus started. And since this was their only lead, Jess and Forrest headed off.

     The ‘club’ was apparently a building made to look like storage, but actually contained a bar and, well, a Hooters. Turns out Tord had been secretly funding it, spending a lot of time their when he wasn’t off doing, whatever it was he did. If she was lucky, maybe Jess could get a chance to talk to him. If she could handle the anxiety that would come with talking in person to her boss. The man was more intimidating that marsh, will, or anyone really. Half his face was covered in scars, he was missing an eye, and his right arm had been blown off in an explosion years ago, now replaced with a metallic prosthetic. 

     Walking into the club was uneventful at first, it looked like any other storage building, although packed to the brim. A man was standing next to a weirdly placed pile of boxes and motioned them over. 

“Password?”

     Forrest simply handed the man a slip of paper Nik had given them, and the man inspected it before handing it back and stepping to the side. The pile of boxes shifted to the side and revealed a secret door which opened up to a brightly lit room. Jess and Forrest hesitantly slipped inside, the door shutting behind them with a loud clang. Pink and purple strobe lights were flashing all over and loud music with a fast paced beat was playing overhead. Nik said Will liked to hang around the bar. Jess poked Forrest on the shoulder and pointed to a man sitting at the bar, a young lady on each arm. Forrest made sure Jess calmed her breathing then headed over with her.

“Excuse me, cadet William Gray I assume?” 

     The man turned on his seat and raised a brow at the two, seemingly unimpressed. His hair was slicked back and trimmed nicely, he wore and eyepatch on his left eye, and he had a bit of six o clock shadow across his chin. One hand held a drink, most likely alcoholic, and the other was twirling the hair of one of the ladies.

“Can I help you? Not that I will, but what do you want.” His voice was deep and gruff, making Jess shudder in fear. 

“We want to know about the Z virus.” Forrest spoke for her. Will glared hard at the two for an entire minute before dismissing the ladies. He made some sort of hand motion at the bartender then folded his hands in his lap. 

“And what exactly does the Z virus have to do with me?” He asked, offering the previously occupied seats to the two. The bartender placed a drink in front of each of them. “On the house.” He’d told them. 

     Jess could’ve sworn she saw him and Will make eye contact and felt very skeptical about the drinks. She wasn't much of a drinker anyways, so she pushed the glass away slightly. Forrest sniffed the drink, shrugged, and downed the shot-glass in one go. William hid a smirk behind one of his hands. 

“We’ve got intel that says you’re trying to stop all talk on it.” Jess told him. 

“Hmm. And what purpose would I have for that? Rumors are just rumors after all, gossip never hurt anyone.”

“I don’t know, you tell me.” She made eye contact with him, some sort of personal battle of sorts, which she lost when she looked away first. 

“As I said, I know nothing of what you’re talking about.” 

     Jess glanced over at Forrest, noticing him holding his head in one hand. He looked dizzy. William quickly glanced at the younger man, then back to the pink haired woman in front of him. 

“Then why did you drug these drinks?” Will gave her the same hard glare he had earlier.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

     Jess raised a brow, giving him a look that said ‘really?’ and pointed over at her friend who was ready to pass out. Will eyed her down, not saying anything, then suddenly raised his fist. Jess froze again, memories flooding back from a similar experience, and flinched away from the man. She needen’t have worried though, Will’s hand was stopped before it could make contact with her. By another hand. By a red, shining, metallic hand. Jess looked up to see the face of her boss, face unreadable. He had what looked to be a fake smile on his face. 

“Cadet Wardog! Just the soldier I was looking for.” He spoke, letting go of Will’’s hand. 

“William, I hope you can make it back to your room safely.” Will stood stock straight, saluting to the man with a ‘sir yes sir!’ before hurriedly heading off.

     Tord motioned to Paul, who in turn walked over to Forrest and helped him up. Jess couldn’t watch to see where he was taking him as Tord slid an arm around her waist and began walking toward a far corner of the room. He led her to a booth and invited her to sit across from him. She agreed reluctantly, and yet another drink was placed in front of her.

“Do not worry, I promise this drink is untampered with.” Jess nodded and hesitantly took a small sip, not wanting to upset her boss. He smiled more genuinely this time.

“So Wardog, what brings you to my club and what business did you have with Mr.Greyy?” He rested his head on his hands as he spoke, his eyes never leaving her own.

“I’ve been trying to find the source of the virus sir. I’ve received intel that William might know something.” Tord raised a brow, interested.

“The Z virus? What would any of my soldiers know about this?”

“Well, sir, um, rumor says the virus came from our compound.” Both eyebrows raised on Tord’s face now. 

“Really? What is your intel on Greyy then?” 

“He’s been sending someone to spy on any conversations about the virus sir. He seems to be trying to keep talk about it to a minimum. Apparently a couple people have gone missing since speaking about it. I was actually wondering if you might have any idea about what’s going on. Is William allowed access to your research lab sir?” Tord shook his head.

“No one but Paul and Pat may enter my lab, and I can guarantee neither of those two would've released this virus.” 

“Do you perhaps know anyone close to Mr. Greyy then?” Her boss seemed to think for a moment, scratching his chin in thought.

“Well, he does seem to have some sort of weird attachment to that Marsh fellow. Never liked that soldier, he almost set my office on fire once.” Jess seemed shocked at the news, perhaps Marsh actually did have a bigger part in this? 

“Sir, if you don’t mind me continuing my personal investigation, would you please give me any information on Mr. Greyy and Marsh?” Tord stretched his arms over his shoulders and stood up, motioning to Pat, who had been standing to the side as they conversed. Pat placed a folder on the table in front of her.

“You may continue your search cadet, but I shall deal with punishments once you figure out who’s behind this.” Jess’s face instantly lit up and she jumped up to hug her boss without realizing it, She quickly let go once she realized how unprofessional that was. 

“You won’t regret this sir.”

. . . . .

     Jess had spent the night in Carrot’s personal underground lab, using the information given to her by Tord to do more in-depth research on Marsh and Will. They’d been digging through the deep webs for hours without much luck. All they’d found out so far was that Marsh had a kid he didn’t even know about. Jess ended up passing out for awhile, but was nudged awake by Carrot. When she looked at the clock she noticed it was two AM. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and yawned.

“What is it Carrot?” He jerked his head toward his computer screen.

“You might wanna take a look at this.”

     She perked up at that and rolled her chair closer to his. His wall of screens each had different information on them, but the main focus was the one in the middle. It showed an image of a younger Marsh and what she assumed to be a younger Will, both happily wrapped in each other’s arms. She raised a brow in question as she turned to Carrot, and he gave a smirk in response, proceeding to pull up additional information. Jess’s eyes went wide at what she read next.

. . . . .

“Marsh is behind the virus, isn’t he?” 

     Will sat on the opposite side of a gray table, hands bound in cuffs. Apparently Tord had sent him to some temporary form of jail after the fight he almost initiated. He rolled his eyes at the pink haired woman across from him. She crossed her arms and continued to stare, waiting patiently for an answer. Carrot stood to the side, he was there to keep Jess calm and prevent any possible fist fights.

“I thought I was your suspect?” He half joked. Jess shrugged.

“You were, but new information has come up. We all know Marsh has been wanting to take over for years, looks like he finally got his chance. And who would be better to share his plans with than his ex lover?” 

     Will’s head turned sharply to her, his expression a mix between fear, anger, and possibly regret? Jess smirked and tossed a folder onto the table, tons of photos fell out showing William and Marsh doing a range of things. There were pictures of dates, old posts to social media, etc, etc. Will glared up at her.

“He’s my _ex_ , why would I help him?”

“Well, technically you didn’t. You just helped cover his tracks, keeping the rumors on the down low. Because deep down,” She leaned across the table. “You still care about him.”

     Will scoffed and looked off to the side of the room. He somehow managed to cross his arms despite the handcuffs. Jess noticed one of his feet tapping impatiently on the floor.

“Since i’ve started this investigation, i’ve noticed Marsh hasn’t be around much.” Will glanced at her again. “Tell me, William, where is he?” Will’s face suddenly took a turn, giving her an evil egotistic smirk. Before Jess could react, there was a gun to her head.

“How about right behind you?”

     Carrot acted on instinct, taking out his own pistol and pointing it at Will’s head, his arm wrapped around the man’s neck in a headlock. Marsh and Carrot both stared at each other across the room, each with a finger on the trigger of their respective guns. Marsh smiled. Carrot snarled.

“Looks like we’re in a stand off. Why don’t you hand over my lover for yours?” Both Carrot and Jess’s faces lit up in a blush. 

“She is _not_ my girlfriend you psychopath, let her go now or i’ll shoot.” Jess didn't know why she felt a bit upset at his response. Marsh simply shrugged.

“Honestly? I don’t really care about Will that much. I’ll go ahead and shoot her anyways, just for the hell of it.”

     The next few moments were a blur. Two gunshots went off at the same time, but only one body fell to the floor. Jess took a moment to realize it wasn’t her own. She turned around to see Tord standing there, his gun pointed in her direction and smoking as if it had just been fired. On the floor lay Marsh, his body bleeding at her feet. She sighed with relief when she realized she _didn’t_ have a bullet to the head, and Tord tossed his gun off to the side. 

“I’ll send someone to clean up the mess. Good job Wardog.” Told patted her on the back and turned to leave. “You will be rewarded for your efforts, but for now I believe you should take care of your friend there.”

     Jess was confused, and had to turn around completely to see what he meant. Her breath hitched when she saw Carrot on his knees, holding his shoulder tightly. His blue coat was turning red around the area, and it was spreading quickly. Jess kneeled down and held his face, trying to keep him conscious by patting his face and assuring him he’d be okay. Wishing seconds he was passed out on her shoulder.

. . . . . 

“What happened?” 

     Carrot felt groggy and tired when he woke up. He went to lift a hand to shield his eyes from the bright lights and sterile white room but his arm was instantly racked with pain. A soft voice spoke to him and held his arm down, although not forcefully. He had to blink a few times to focus on the face in front of him. It took a minute, but son the pink blob in front of him turned int the smiling face of his friend. 

“You saved my life is what happened, you idiot.” 

     Jess laughed tiredly, her voice sounded horse. Carrot noticed bags under her eyes and how dry they looked. She must have been crying a lot. She was on the verge of crying again as she pulled him into a hug.

“Don’t you _ever_ scare me like that again or i’ll kick your ass.” Carrot gave a small chuckle at this and lifted his good arm to oat her back.

“What a sweet talker.” He joked. Jess shook her head and pulled away to look him in the eyes.

“I hate you, you idiot.” She laughed again.

“You love me.” Carrot joked again. Mostly. He was hoping he wasn’t. Jess shook her head again.

“Yeah, I do.”

     She held his face in her hands and pulled him close, kissing him in hopes that her feelings were conveyed better this way than with her words. She began to cry again, although this time they were tears of joy. Carrot’s good arm ran through her hair to hold her in the kiss a bit longer. Outside they heard what seemed to be fireworks, but were actually the grenades going off from another Red Army version of the game of Russian roulette. They would both remember it as fireworks though. It made for a better picture perfect ending.


End file.
